Happy Hour Roundup

Rep. Darrell Issa, the conservative firebrand whose specialty is lobbing corruption allegations at the Obama White House, is making plans to hire dozens of subpoena-wielding investigators if Republicans win the House this fall.

* Good lines from Ezra Klein on the trend I noted below -- the emergence of freshman and sophomore Senators as leading critics of business as usual in the world's greatest deliberative body:

It seems they've not been around long enough to realize that the difficulty of doing something necessary doesn't excuse you from getting it done...the more senior members of the body have been unable to convince them that a tradition of dysfunction is a good argument for a future of dysfunction.

* Headline of the day, from Swampland, on the news that BP chief Tony Hayward will no longer be in charge of the day to day cleanup:

Tony Hayward Gets His Life Back

* CNN poll: For the first time in recent CNN polling, a majority opposes expanded offshore drilling.

* Also: Underscoring what a major political problem this remains for Obama, only seven percent say the spill is under control, and nearly half say the Gulf won't ever recover (despite Obama's promise to restore it and then some).

Typical, and probably smart strategy by BP to let Hayward take a beating in front of the House and then shift him to a subsidiary role. Glad we got some of their money committed before they find a way out of their responsibility.

And Greg, I hope you're also monitoring this emerging GOP meme of "Obama is violating the law/Constitution in "shaking down" BP." Apparently getting them to respond to something they admit being guilty of is coercive.

"Rep. Darrell Issa, the conservative firebrand whose specialty is lobbing corruption allegations at the Obama White House, is making plans to hire dozens of subpoena-wielding investigators if Republicans win the House this fall."

This is an excellent example of why Obama/Pelosi/Reid were crazy to not begin the administration with dozens of investigations of the criminal and unethical activities of the Bush admin and Republican Congress. They seemed to think that politics could be a Sunday tea not a bare-knuckles brawl. As a result, the Republicans who lied cheated and stole will take over the House and start investigating the Sistak job and Hilary Clinton's travel budget and Obama's dog walking etc. with the media helping them pile on as the country goes down the tubes.

Greg, the only thing I'd add is that what's scaring the corporate GOPs (or, the most corporate) is that this is an unprecedented move, in recent times, by the government to secure a financial commitment from a corporation when they've done something like this.

If others know of similar examples please contribute them.

What's SO suspicious is that the GOPs are clamoring for the courts, the rule of law, when they'd otherwise be condemning defense lawyers and others for trying to get the very damages we are talking about here.

"In my decades of watching party politics, I don't recall a more emblematic moment for the GOP. This is who they too often are -- groveling lackeys for Big Oil in particular and Big Business in general, even though it insults the families of the workers who were killed in the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, the thousands who have lost their livelihood and turns a blind eye toward the massive destruction of wildlife and our natural heritage. That they tried to wash it away with a half-assed apology was predictable. Most Republicans are pretty clever about hiding their worst impulses, when corporate abuse becomes a major controversy -- we don't hear much from Dick Cheney, for example, on this topic. But every now and then the cover is inadvertently lifted." http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/strategist/2010/06/bartons_grovel_gops_emblematic.php#comments

David Brooks was just on the NewsHour pushing exactly that meme, BG. He's worried about Obama's violating the rule of law in going after BP.

In spite of Brooks having the reputation as being a reasonable voice on the right, he's always ready to spit out the latest talking point from Kristol, et. al. It's irritating because a lot of moderates are more apt to consider it coming from him.

AllButSane:
"David Brooks was just on the NewsHour pushing exactly that meme, BG. He's worried about Obama's violating the rule of law in going after BP."

The Puddinhead Of The United States and his party just browbeat a publicly held company out of 20 billion dollars, and you think that concern about the extralegality of this is a "talking points meme"?

Moonbat, had George Bush done this kind of thing to a company you cared about, your anus would have been clenched in anger and concern so tightly that feces would be oozing out of your nostrils.
(Instead of your ears, where it usually oozes from).

"It's irritating because a lot of moderates are more apt to consider it coming from him."

Well gee, ace, maybe you should give some consideration to the idea that there might be something to be concerned about there after all...

Assuming any moonbat-beloved company COULD turn a profit, it one day might come to pass that President Sarah Palin decides to use some pretext to put the bite on THEM.
Say, Bill Gates's Microsoft...surely Microsoft has done at least as much damage to our economy and environment as one lousy awl/url/oy-yull well.

But it raises the question as to whether Republicans actually believed this (projection) or whether they just played the propaganda and fear-mongering game. Did they think, sincerely, Dems would operate as Republicans did during the Clinton administration? Perhaps they can't conceive that other hearts might not be so black as their own?

Let's add one more layer to the BPublicans confused messaging on the Gulf of Mexico mess, the shake-down, and slush fund.

First, we have Joe Barton apologizing to BP, then we have the pundit class supporting him, and we have Boeher and friends backing away from Barton, and two Reublicans calling for Barton to give up his leadership spot on the Energy Committee.

Now from Dave Weigel, we have this:

Do Republicans deserve partial credit for the BP fund?

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), who was an oil and gas engineer before he started his career in politics, says President Obama is politicizing the BP escrow fund after having little to do with it being set up.

[T]he real story here is that BP had already made the decision to set aside $20 billion to compensate those harmed by this tragic disaster several days prior to the President’s speech. The true outrage is that this was never the President’s idea at all, and he should be ashamed for pretending it was for political purposes.
On Thursday, Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao told me that he pressed BP on the fund idea a month ago, inspired by the example of Exxon after its 1989 spill off the coast of Alaska. And on Friday I talked with Ray McKinney, another engineer, who is running for Congress in Georgia against Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.). McKinney stressed that there was no serious disagreement about the escrow issue, and said Democrats were concocting a political debate when all that mattered was making BP pay and investigating the disaster.

The Slum Line meme-master:
" It's good to see that indefatigable scandal hunter Darrell Issa is making the stakes of the midterm elections crystal clear...making plans to hire dozens of subpoena-wielding investigators if Republicans win the House this fall."

They won't have to investigate very hard.

I'd say that the Alleged Hawaiian has set himself up for a rap of Exaction.

"...Exaction refers not only to extortion or the unlawful demanding and obtaining of something through force,[1] but additionally, in its formal definition, means the infliction of something such as pain and suffering or making somebody endure something unpleasant.[2]"

The same Post story claimed that as a legislator, Angle had supported “a prison rehabilitation program promoted by the Church of Scientology and involving massage and saunas.”

Seeking to “clear the record,” Angle told us “I am not even sure that the Church of Scientology fits into it at all. You have to make some quantum leaps here.”"

This program (the "purification program") was developed by Hubbard and has been run in Scientology centers for some 25 years. It is nothing but Scientology. All instances of the program whether offered in prisons or elsewhere (ie for first responders after 9/11) are set up by Scientology personnel and must follow strict guidelines set by Scientology.

There is always the easier explanation for those fears that Democrats had been doing their best to attack and destroy the Bush admin for 6 years and have a long, long history of such behavior. (Recall how the Dems said they had to investigate the October Surprise fantasy because there was no evidence for it but it was a serious charge?)

In any event, although the more insane Dems like Kucinich didn't fully get their way, the Dmes did in fact start investigations and issue subpoenas. There was the whole US Attorney witch hunt. They launched re-investigations of the Iraq War and subpoenad Condi Rice.

So, I won't bother to go track down what other investigations Dems launched, but, once again, Bernie isn't exactly handling the truth with care.

Dems argued in both off-year election that Bush had to be checked and his agenda blocked. But now, that campaign argument is just cynical politics at best, treason at worst. Now that Dems are in total power, that is.

Slight amount of teeth-grinding here. Mike Tomasky is a hell of a lot smarter than me but he's missing something in his piece on Noonan's column.

Quoting this part...

"But it's also true that among Democrats—and others—when the talk turns to the presidency it turns more and more to Hillary Clinton. "We may have made a mistake. She would have been better." Sooner or later the secretary of state is going to come under fairly consistent pressure to begin to consider 2012.

Mike says...

"Maybe I run in strange circles, but I actually haven't heard very much of that at all. It's a pointless hypothetical in some ways."

And he goes on to argue the hypothetical (reasonably concluding there's no reason to think Hillary would be different).

The clue to what he's missing is in his note that he hasn't heard any of the "we Dems made a mistake not choosing Clinton" talk Noonan claims is in the air. Though I'm much futher away, I read a lot and I haven't heard peep about this either.

Noon is, it seems quickly apparent to me, two things. First, forwarding the "Obama is failing" meme (as I've said before, this is an absolutely necessary propaganda line for Republicans to foster). But second, by placing a female as the better leader, she's pushing the 'grizzly mama' PR line.

bilgeman, please, could you stop with the disgusting comments. The plumline has been a great place for a lot of us left and right to argue, debate ideas, share observations and follow the political news of the day. None of us minds the insult here and there, or even language liberties, but you're no longer contributing as a member of the community.

I don't know what happened but you used to be sort of funny in a disrespectful way, and made smart comments even though we almost always disagreed, but sometime in the last month or so you seem to have crossed an imaginary line the rest of us don't normally cross. I'm not in favor of censorship, I have a tough shell and I don't break, but you've taken the spark out of the plumline for me. Maybe that's your ultimate game plan, I don't know, but very few of us regulars showed up today and I think it's really too bad, for all of us and for Greg.

Is there any way you could tone it down for the sake of the rest of the Plumline? It used to be enjoyable for all of us, now it's only fun for you.

Logging in just to say bilge is only driving traffic away from your blog. The regulars may be willing to put up with him but a few of my pals who checked out your blog on my recommend, told me they were turned off by his offensive and racist name calling and meaningless posts.

Go into hiding. Don't put yourself in the position where you have to answer questions so that you can pretend you don't hold the ideas you hold.

"Former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey, one of the drivers of the Tea Party movement, is suggesting that Republican political candidates should shy away from the "Tea Party" label to avoid harsher scrutiny...

"Don't ask for more of what you really don't want," Armey said Wednesday at an event sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. "Since the left hates the Tea Party and they hate me, let's see if we can get 'em to double down on me by me claiming to be the leader of the Tea Party." http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20008010-503544.html

As Armey famously said, "Politics is 97% fiction and 3% imagination." It's certainly not, for Army, anything to do with facts/truth or public service.

lmslaveinca:
"I don't know what happened but you used to be sort of funny in a disrespectful way, and made smart comments even though we almost always disagreed, but sometime in the last month or so you seem to have crossed an imaginary line the rest of us don't normally cross."

Well, gee...what has happened in the last month? What would make a happy-go-lucky, charming, "people person" guy like me turn nasty?

"Is there any way you could tone it down for the sake of the rest of the Plumline? It used to be enjoyable for all of us, now it's only fun for you"

I'll follow the example of the Felonious Obamateur and demand that you moonbat cattle deposit monies into the "Oil Patch Worker's Unemployed by DemocRat Government Fiat Compensation Fund".

When the fund reaches 20 billion, then I'll stop saying nasty things at you and your precious Moonbat Manor blahhg.

Why shouldn't you livestock personally pay for the damages that the policies held by the Alleged Hawaiian that you support cause to your fellow citizens?

How's that sound?

Oh, does that break the law?

Well, so what?

It's for the victims you louses!

And if you don't care for my Slum Line tone now, here in cyberspace, then I'd recommend that you dig a hole in the ground and stay in it for the next year or so, because the tone out in meatspace is going to get as bad or worse than I am here.

You fools stay inside this cyber-Sweat Lodge and while the days away TOTALLY AGREEING with each other's whack notions.

Meanwhile, the anger out in the nation, (at least in the corners of it I inhabit), is frankly getting frightening, and I remember 1994.

"Armey, who is now friendly with the tea party movement, said Bush was the "the quickest, biggest, bitter disappointment we've ever had."" http://parkcitiesblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/06/texas-congressmen-and-us-presi.html

What a lovely thumbnail sketch of the problems the GOP has in keeping up this charade of furiously insisting "We're not us!" while also insisting "That us we are not has nothing wrong with it!"

Bilge, there are better ways to make a point and press people to defend their positions than being a Plumline bully. A lot of us here have defended your right to speak your mind, but you've moved beyond debate and disagreement to hate and threats. This isn't a one man show. I read the urgency of your disagreement with the moratorium the other night and responded in kind. Nothing. I think we can all agree there's more misery out there than peace and prosperity, let's see if we can reach some kind of consensus on how to fix it. Contrary to your assertion, most of us here don't want to spend our time in an echo chamber but pretty soon it will be your echo chamber.

I've said enough, it's not my site, and I'm not the moderator. I'll leave it up to you and the powers that be to figure it out. I just wanted to appeal to you before I left for good. I know you won't miss me, but I'll miss participating.

@Bilgeman - because of what I wrote above, you deserve some sort of response. I've just read your last post, the first I've bothered with in more than three months or so.

You should note that we've not requested that anyone else "arguing" conservative viewpoints be banned. Just you.

Your anger defense doesn't cut it. Lots of people are or get angry. Lots of men get angry at their wives but not all of them punch their wife in the face.

I asked you a non-political question a while back and you answered it well. I appreciated that. But on politics, you've gone over the edge and you've become destructive to the site with your unceasing personal attacks. Your presence here is - to quote a popular cliche - a privilege and not a right. Go say what you wish to say somewhere else.

Slave DinOH:
"Gee Bilge, I feel your pain. Some of us have only been unemployed off and on for the past two years! Thanks to the previous administrations policies."

You gots to free your mind, moonbat. The Alleged Hawaiian has been in office now for 18 months...you can go live under a bridge and still blame Bush until the day that you die, but Bush is now and has been, history.

But I'll grant, for the sake of argument, that Bush policies DID cause you to lose a job.

The Odministration's policies sure haven't helped you get another, have they?

When are you gonna wake up?

These folks in South Louisiana are awakening.

BeePee, (and the Odministration's obstructionist response), splooged them out of the fishing and shrimping biz for a few years, but then here comes Salazar, and his moratorium is going to mean that the Oil Patch jobs go away too...and gas prices skyrocket while our currency devalues to pay off today's borrowing with tomorrow's "cheaper" dollars.

That isn't Bush's doing, fella.

Don't you get it? The "Obama Cure" is worse than the "Bush Disease".

Like I said, wake up....or end your days pushing your shopping cart full of pathetic belongings and valuable aluminum cans from soup-kitchen to homeless shelter muttering under your breath to yourself that it's "all Bush's fault".

Bilge, I know you don't give a damn about this but I'll say it anyways.

I suggested banning your sorry pathetic self because you can't have a discussion like an intelligent being but instead argue as if you're someone on a mix between Jerry Springer and South Park.

Everyone here argued I was wrong and you should be allowed to post.

I get your type. I understand you're probably some miserable misanthrope and the anonymity of the internet allows a coward such as yourself a stage you would never have the guts to have on display in real life.

Anyways, I hope you implode with anger over this administration and it engulfs your life and breaks you.

Sargent:
"And bilgeman, here's a compromise. How about you stop the name-calling? no more "slave," no more mangling of people's names, etc etc."

If this your blog, meme-master, you don;t have to compromise with me or with anyone else.

You can ban me anytime you like. End of story.
Then you can have your barnyard where all the moonbats drop by and TOTALLY AGREE with you and each other.

"Quarterback and Scott both manage to make their points without this kind of stuff. And their contributions spark some spirited debate."

QB and Scott also put up with your livestock's abuse for making their points, as does SBJ3.
I'm just a little more pro-active than they in that area...probably because I really DON'T like you people, and I'm not here to make friends with your fascist herd.

Obama, Hilary, Zbiginiew Brzezinski and the Bilderberg Group are starting a war with Iran!

Re:http://www.zeenews.com/news635378.html
Cairo: Egypt's banned opposition party has warned the Husni Mubarak regime against dragging the country in a US-led aggression on Iran, saying it will not sit and watch any such move with folded hands.
Amidst reports that heavily-armed US and Israli warsips were given a free passage through the Suez Canal on their way to the Red Sea on Friday, the Egyptian Labor Party issued a statement warning the government against involving Egypt in a new "unethical scandal".
The Labor party, which has been banned from operating for the last 10 years, strongly denounced the Egyptian government's policy of supporting the US, without giving any consideration to national interests, the party's official online newspaper Al-Sha'b said.
Reports have said that 12 US warships, including least one Israeli vessel, carrying a large number of soldiers, passed through the Suez Canal on Friday with the Egyptian army making extra security measures for their safe passage.
The military flotilla reportedly included aircraft carriers and personnel transporters, and sources said maritime traffic in the Suez Canal was obstructed for several hours in the morning period as the US fleet was sailing.
Arab newspapers have voiced concern that this may indicate Israel and the US are preparing an attack on Iran, with Egyptian cooperation.
Responding to these reports the Egyptian opposition warned that it will not sit by with its hands folded. "These interests are being served at the expense of the interests of the nation," it said.
Observers said the fleet was the largest to cross the Suez Canal in several years and navigation of traffic came to a complete stop.
Egyptian ships on the two sides of the canal accompanied the US fleet until it reached Suez.
However, official sources did not confirm the report.
Other opposition forces in Egypt have also warned the Egyptian regime against repeating its historic mistake of opening the Suez Canal for US warships which sailed via the Suez Canal to attack Iraq.

Western nations led by the US have raised concerns on Iran's nuclear programme, but Tehran has maintained it is for peaceful purposes.

The UN Security Council imposed a fresh round of sanctions on Iran earlier this month.